Hinge Brings Semantic Tech to Finding a Relationship

Rob LeFebvre of Cult of Mac reports, “55 percent of Hinge users are looking to find a relationship, according to internal user surveys by the app developer.”

Rob LeFebvre of Cult of Mac reports, “55 percent of Hinge users are looking to find a relationship, according to internal user surveys by the app developer. 35 percent want to find good dates. Only 5 percent admit to just wanting a hookup. That’s a huge contrast from other apps like OK Cupid or Tinder, said Hinge developer Justin McLeod, who spoke to Cult of Mac over Skype. His goal, he said, was to create a much better dating app, one that was just as easy to join as Tinder, but with more quality results. It seems to be working, as the app is growing by 10 percent every week.”

He continues, “It’s an app limited to New York, DC, Boston, Philadelphia, though. McLeod (pictured right) said that was to make sure it was a quality experience before going nationwide, and the fact that the target audience–young, urban, professional–tend to have more facebook connections. ‘These folks have an average of 700 Facebook friends, as opposed to the standard 150 or so,’ he said. It’s a bit more popular with women, he said, which is different than the norm… Hinge uses Facebook to connect you to the service, as it helps validate who you are and what you do.”

LeFebvre goes on, “The Hinge algorithms shows you friends of friends who are actually good matches, for example. McLeod said that Hinge uses the semantic web from your entire Facebook experience, not just who you’re connected to. ‘You can really dig deeper into things like ‘lawyers who work at law firms’ or ‘girls who went to an SEC school’,’ he said. McLeod has big plans for Hinge, and investors are rallying. Hinge has raised over $4 million in venture capital, and continues to look at ways of making money within the app itself.”